A new report predicts a 46 percent increase in diabetes in the United Kingdom by 2025, driven primarily by eating habits and booming obesity rates.
As many as 4.2 million people in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are expected to have contracted type 2 diabetes by then, a result of junk-food diets and low rates of exercise.
With this, experts foresee a parallel boom in related ailments — such as heart disease, kidney problems, amputations and blindness — as well as increased medical costs.
In Scotland alone, the National Health Service is currently spending 10 percent of its budget on diabetes-related issues.
Campaigners called for greater efforts by the government to encourage healthy dietary habits and lifestyles.
Sources:
“4million ‘will have diabetes by 2025′”
Metro.co.uk, June 8, 2008
“Unhealthy Trend: Soaring Obesity Rates to Spark ‘Diabetes Explosion'”
The Herald (Scotland), June 10, 2008